"Hey, where did you run off to? Why did it take you so long to get back?" Su Mei looked up, pursing her lips with a hint of complaint.
"Heh, ran into a little trouble." Seeing Su Mei's glistening eyes, Chu Feng felt a wave of warmth in his chest. He couldn't help but spread his arms and wrap them around Su Mei's soft waist, pulling the little beauty tightly into his embrace.
"You jerk." Feeling Chu Feng's restless hands, and then glancing at Bai Tong and the others standing behind, Su Mei finally realized how improper their position must look. She hastily broke free from Chu Feng's arms, her little face flushed red as a ripe apple.
"Heh." Watching Su Mei's blushing cheeks, Chu Feng licked his lips savoringly. This girl's feel was really something else.
After that, Su Mei and the others didn't press Chu Feng for details. Naturally, Chu Feng had no intention of idly bragging about how he'd obtained the Void Flight Technique, been chased by the Thousand Wind Sect's Sect Master, and taken a massive detour to avoid capture—walking a full three days before making it back to the Ancient Wasteland City.
However, when Chu Feng learned that the burial ground had erupted into a raging sea of fire, that the Thousand Wind Sect had suffered devastating losses, and that even their Sect Master had gone missing, he was genuinely stunned.
The whole affair was just too bizarre. A sea of fire spanning ten li appearing in the desert, right on top of the burial site no less. And even after the flames dissipated, the temperature remained so extreme that not even Xuan Wu Realm experts could set foot in it, turning the area into forbidden ground. That was truly terrifying.
Some people said the Elder of Void Flight had laid a trap—a trap designed to drag anyone who dared disturb his eternal rest into the grave with him. But the majority felt that even in life, the Elder of Void Flight had never possessed such means, so how could he have set such a trap after death? There had to be other explanations. Some even believed it was a disaster sent down from the heavens.
Regardless of what others speculated, Chu Feng knew one thing for certain: if the Thousand Wind Sect's Sect Master had truly perished in that sea of fire, then given the catastrophic losses the sect had sustained this time, it would likely be reduced to a third-rate sect—no longer able to compete with the Azure Dragon Sect.
That very day, Chu Feng and the others set off back toward the Azure Dragon Sect, because the Core Disciple Examination was just around the corner. Originally, Bai Tong and Su Mei were certain to participate, but this time they figured the Wing Alliance would need to send one more person—Chu Feng himself.
"Whew, six hundred Spirit Pearls. I wonder how far I can push my breakthrough."
Back at the Azure Dragon Sect, Chu Feng wasted no time opening his Universe Bag and pulling out all six hundred Spirit Pearls. Gazing at their golden glow, he couldn't contain his delight.
Six hundred Spirit Pearls. With this, Chu Feng could genuinely call himself a wealthy man. Just how wealthy? It was probably equivalent to the entire fortune of the Chu Family—and that "entire fortune" naturally included all of the family's assets.
"Nom nom."
Chu Feng grabbed a huge handful of Spirit Pearls and tossed them straight into his mouth. With the Divine Thunder inside his body, he wasn't the slightest bit worried about being unable to process them. His only concern was that they wouldn't be enough.
And just as Chu Feng expected, the moment the handful of Spirit Pearls entered his body, they were almost instantly refined by the devouring suction emanating from the Divine Thunder. A torrent of Spiritual Energy surged into his Dantian, so much that he felt it swelling. But that sensation lasted only an instant before vanishing—all because the Divine Thunder had already consumed every last drop.
A single handful held exactly fifty Spirit Pearls. By his estimation, breaking through to Spirit Martial Seventh Stage should be more than enough. After all, going from Spirit Martial Fifth Stage to Sixth Stage had cost him fewer than four Spirit Pearls. But Chu Feng had clearly underestimated just how voracious the Divine Thunder could be.
After those fifty Spirit Pearls entered his body, the Spiritual Energy in his Dantian had increased several times over—yet there was still no sign of a breakthrough.
"I don't believe I can't fill you up!" Chu Feng grabbed another handful—another exact fifty—and swallowed them. This time, his Dantian finally welcomed that long-awaited transformation.
Nine Thunder Fierce Beasts let out piercing roars. Though not the faintest ripple reached the outside world, the sound echoed endlessly in Chu Feng's ears, growing stronger and stronger—as if the nine Thunder Fierce Beasts were drawing ever closer to him, gradually merging into one.
He'd broken through. At last, he'd broken through to Spirit Martial Seventh Stage. The shift in the very essence of his Spiritual Energy was unmistakable. But the price of this breakthrough had been a full hundred Spirit Pearls—a figure that would be simply inconceivable to anyone else.
Spirit Pearls—what were they? They were supreme-grade Spirit Medicine, something many cultivators only dared use at the absolute peak of Spirit Martial Ninth Stage to seize a chance at breaking through to the Yuan Martial Realm in one fell swoop.
Yet here Chu Feng was, going from Spirit Martial Sixth Stage to Seventh Stage, and he'd burned through a hundred of them. If word got out, it could literally frighten people to death. A hundred Spirit Pearls for a single level of advancement—that was outrageous extravagance.
Of course, Chu Feng's Spirit Martial Seventh Stage was nothing like an ordinary cultivator's. Especially after practicing the Mystic Art, he could now face even Spirit Martial Ninth Stage experts without the slightest fear—frankly, he didn't even consider them worth worrying about.
Unless his opponent also possessed heaven-defying abilities like his own, there was likely no one left within the Spirit Martial Realm who could stand against Chu Feng. His true rivals could only be found in the Yuan Martial Realm—and that kind of power was far more terrifying.
"Sigh, if this keeps up, who could possibly afford to feed you?" Chu Feng looked at the five hundred remaining Spirit Pearls with a helpless expression and decided not to refine any more, tucking them back into his Universe Bag.
He knew the Divine Thunder's appetite was only growing more monstrous. At best, devouring these five hundred Spirit Pearls would only fill it halfway—there was no way he'd achieve another breakthrough.
Since that was the case, there was no point in refining them. Better to save these Spirit Pearls for future needs. After all, he really didn't want to be the kind of man who had to borrow money every time he ran into an expense.
"Knock, knock, knock—Chu Feng... are you in?" Just then, a voice suddenly came from outside the manor. It was Chu Yue.
Hearing this, Chu Feng hurried out and opened the front gate. Sure enough, Chu Yue was standing right there, with Chu Xue beside her.
"Chu Feng, you're finally back! Come on, confess—where have you been all this time?" Upon seeing Chu Feng, Chu Yue was first surprised, then practically overflowing with joy.
"Nowhere special. Just knocked out a few sect missions," Chu Feng answered with a vague smile.
"Just sect missions? I heard you left together with Su Mei, the number one beauty of the Inner Sect," Chu Yue said, the corners of her lips curling into a teasing grin.
"Uh..." Caught off guard by Chu Yue's remark, Chu Feng was momentarily at a loss for words.
"Haha, alright, I'm just teasing you. Actually, we were just passing by your place. Since you're back, come along with us to check out something exciting."
"Exciting? What's exciting?"
"Chu Feng, have you heard of the cultivation array?"